Environment Officer urges assembly to monitor activities of butchers

Accra, Aug 17, GNA - The Greater Accra Regional Environmental Health Officer, Mr Jonas Amanu, has urged the Ga East District Assembly (GEDA) to intensify its efforts at monitoring the sanitation conditions and hygiene of butchers to prevent acts likely to be detrimental to public health.

He made the call when he inspected some slaughter slabs at Madina Township to acquaint himself with alleged unhygienic preparation of meat by butchers after the slaughtering of animals.

The Regional Health Officer noticed that the butchers in the area used vehicle tyres in the preparation of slaughtered animals for sale to the public, thus posing health hazards for the people.

The situation had also exposed the residents to a lot of health risks with a bad stench emanating from the unsanitary condition and the indiscriminate defecating in the area, while the only hand-dug well the butchers used as a source of water for domestic use was very close to a KVIP latrine.

Mr Amanu also noted that access to water had been identified as a major problem in the area which has necessitated the indiscriminate digging of hand-dug wells.

He said providing a modern slaughter house to butchers without corresponding advocacy for cleanliness would amount to a neglect of the people's health concerns and expressed the hope that the Assembly's Environmental Health staff would work in collaboration with the veterinary officers to improve upon sanitation in the area.

Mr John Kwao Sackey, Municipal Chief Executive of GEDA, said the Assembly would intensify its education on sanitation and other factors that militated against the development of the District.

He said the Assembly had approved a budget of GH¢25,000 from its share of the Common Fund to construct a new slaughter house to meet the required sanitary practices in the area.

He said prior to that the assembly had agreed to support the butchers with poly tanks for portable water and rehabilitation of the present slaughter slab facilities to step up hygiene and improve sanitation.

The MCE said the facilitation of the provision of sustainable potable water and related sanitation services and the promotion of hygiene among the people were important to the Assembly, adding that 93As we all know, the successful and timely execution of such projects was to a greater extent dependent on the proper acquisition of land and physical contribution of beneficiary communities to the project."

He narrated a situation where the Assembly attempted to construct a modern car park for Madina taxi drivers but that a private developer went to court to put an injunction on the project.

Mr Joseph Quaicoe, Municipal Environmental Health Officer of the Assembly, cited inadequate personnel and logistics as major constraints to the effective enforcement and monitoring of the relevant health regulations on the ground.